The Stars: What's Out there? E

Credit: NASA / Artist concept of the James Webb Space Telescope

At last, at last! There's a new space telescope out there to get better looks at the origins of the universe, distant planets, and galaxies, plus our own solar system. The James Webb Space Telescope is an orbiting infrared observatory. It will complement and extend the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope with longer wavelength coverage and massively improved sensitivity.

Herbig-Haro / Credit ESA/Hubble & NASA, B. Nisini

The James Webb is bigger and more powerful, and I'm sure we'll learn things we have yet to imagine. The telescope will orbit Earth 1.5 kilometers away. It is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.

Webb has a primary mirror made of 18 segments comprised of ultra-lightweight beryllium. Its biggest feature is a tennis court-sized five-layer sunshield that attenuates heat from the Sun more than a million times. The telescope’s four instruments - cameras and spectrometers - have detectors that can record extremely faint signals. One instrument has programmable microshutters, which enable observation up to 100 objects simultaneously. How Cool!

Exciting news! James Webb has now reached its orbit and successfully deployed the mirrors. Its first target is star HD 84406 in the Big Dipper. Can you hear me squealing? 

Although we don't have flying cars yet or live on the Moon, amazing discoveries about our solar system, galaxy, and universe have been made in recent years. There's water on the moon and Mars. There are possible signs of life on Venus. So, I'm excited to see what James Webb will discover. What do you think we might find?

Speaking of stars and space, I have a new book out! Endpoint, Backworlds Book 8 is now available!

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What are you willing to lose in order to win?

Craze can no longer keep the evil Quassers contained, and winning the war gets harder. The Quassers unite forces with another enemy and become more threatening, more destructive, and more murderous.

Planet after planet falls, and Craze is desperate. The only chance he has is a glimpse at little hopes that might grow into a viable strategy. But only if the other planets work with him. So far, everybody is still looking out for themselves and hates him for the gut-wrenching decisions—the deaths of innocents in exchange for all of humanity’s survival.

Skywatch: Perseids Meteor Shower 2021 #astronomy

 The Perseids is the biggest and showiest meteor shower of the year. Every year, it's at the same time-mid August. The peak is August 12th, but you should already be able to view some lovely shooting stars if you have a dark sky.

Even without it being Perseids season, there are 6-10 shooting stars every hour.

The Perseids will appear as quick, small streaks of light. They get their name because they look like they’re coming from the direction of the constellation Perseus.

The Perseids are fragments of the comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits between the Sun and beyond the orbit of Pluto once every 133 years. Every year, the Earth passes near the path of the comet, and the debris left behind by Swift-Tuttle shows up as meteors in our sky.

Perseus is located under Cassiopeia: looks like a big W to the right of the Big Dipper. Here's a star chart.

By IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine (Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg) - [1], CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15412172

For the next two years, the Moon will interfere with the viewing of the Perseids. So this is your best chance for a lovely show until 2024.

I'll be out astronomizing. Hope you get out too! If your skies are sucky, you can watch live with NASA at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYKfAzPEXMQsGtNfBCNa_BA

The Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn #astronomy #Science #

I'm sharing a video I took of a rare event.

The great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn was at its pinnacle on Monday night (12/21/2020). I was able to get out my trusty telescope, Orson Bradbury, and do some stargazing. The forecast had us cloudy, but it turned out to be a beautiful day. It was almost 60 and the sky was clear. 60 isn't normal for these parts in December. However, the wind was roaring. You can probably hear it whistle through the telescope in the video.

This was a once in 400 years event, so I was glad to see it. The video was taken through my 11mm Nagler. That translates into high magnification for those of you not well versed in telescope-speak. To see both in that eyepiece was stunning and something that will never happen again. At least, not while I'm alive. So, I hope you enjoy the video. It's not the best, but you get to see something really special.            

What is a Blue Moon? #Astronomy #Science

 

A blue moon is an additional full moon. Basically, a second full moon in a month. It can also be an extra full moon in a season.

How often does a blue moon occur? Every 2-3 years. The moon isn't actually blue. It can have a blue tint when certain particles from volcanic eruptions or fires are in the air. This is very rare.

There are many superstitions about a full moon:

• It evokes madness
• women are more likely to go into labor
• women are more fertile
• werewolves come out, etc...

Have you noticed the moon isn't always out at night?

At any rate, the moon evokes mystery, magic, and the fantastic. A moonrise is certainly magical. Instead of gold, it chases away the shadows with silver. In reality, the moon is always full. It's a matter of its orbit that lights up more or less of it.

So why does it affect tides? That has to do with its placement in orbit, which corresponds with how much of it is lit up. 

 I love taking photos of the moon, and I love including it in stories. One of the most memorable stories I've read about the moon was by Arthur C. Clarke: A Fall of Moon Dust.  Do you have a favorite myth or story about the moon?

Meet the Neighbor... Ross 128 b. Another world close to our own #astronomy

By ESO/M. Kornmesser (https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1736a/) [CC BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Eleven light years away, orbiting a small, faint red dwarf, is the Earth-like planet Ross 128 b. The star, Ross 128, is one of the quietest stars in the solar neighborhood and is located in the Virgo constellation. Most red dwarfs are prone to flaring, which can blast nearby planets with lots of radiation, stripping away their atmospheres and making them uninhabitable. But Ross 128 b doesn’t flare very often, which makes any planets in its habitable zone candidates for hosting life.

The planet was detected by the HARPS instrument at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. It is the second-closest known Earth-size exoplanet and is calculated to have a minimum mass of 1.35 times the Earth. Ross 128 b orbits 20 times closer to its star than Earth orbits the Sun, but intercepts only 1.38 times more solar radiation than Earth, increasing the chance of retaining an atmosphere.

It's year (rotation period) lasts about 9.9 days and is most likely tidally locked, meaning one side of the planet has eternal daylight and the other eternal darkness.

As of 2017, Ross 128 b is the best candidate for a potentially habitable exoplanet, if it has an atmosphere and if it has the right chemical balance for life to thrive.

Would its inhabitants be like us? Or wildly different? What do you imagine they're like?

More Habitable Planets than Earth

As far as habitability goes, Earth may occupy the lower end of the spectrum.

(image courtesy of NASA)

Discoveries of potentially habitable planets orbiting stars other than our sun—exoplanets, that is—are challenging our definitition of habitability, says a recent article by Rene Heller in Scientific American.

Are we on the fringe of 'habitiability'? The idea is astounding. Earth teems with life and wonder. What would a planet more suited to life be like?

Since we're surrounded by worlds less hospitable than our own, it's hard to imagine. Would there be more biodiversity? Less competition to survive? Would more than one intelligent species evolve?

Superhabitable is the term used for planets more livable than our own. What characteristics beyond the essentials of tectonics, volcanic activity, water, atmosphere, magnetosphere, etc..., would these worlds have?

1.  Earth sits on the edge of the habitable zone from the Sun. So worlds more inside 'the zone' would be more habitable.

2.  A different star. Our lovely G star has a short lifespan relative to other stars. Scientists conclude a K star, one with a longer life and less mass, would give life a longer time to evolve. ( Erika Nesvold, Astrobites)

3.  A less stable orbit. Mild changes really disrupt life on Earth. A planet with a slightly changing, eccentric orbit could produce tidal heating, which would make it superhabitable. (see Astrobites)

How do you imagine 'more habitable'?

Astronomy is Geek Chic

We’re all nerds about something. Yes? What sets you on fire?

For me, it’s writing and astronomy.

Six years ago, we moved to a new town. Seeking a way to become connected with my new community, I found an ad for volunteers at the local observatory on Meetup.com. There was nothing I wanted to do more. The problem? I didn’t know much about the sky. I knew the Big Dipper, how to find the North Star, and Orion. Since star guiding takes place in the summer and Orion is a winter constellation, that did me no good.

I wanted to learn. I wanted to look through telescopes. I wanted to get to know the constellations and the wonders they housed. So I took a deep breath, put on a brave face, and went to the meeting.

Little did I know at the time, that I’d spend the next six summers conducting star tours of the night sky, that I’d become as skilled at navigating the constellations with a set of star charts as a seasoned veteran. Well, now I am a seasoned veteran.

I keep trying to photograph what I see. Photos do not capture the wonder and sparkle. They don’t catch what’s in my eyepiece. There’s very little color. Why? Our eyes need a lot of light to see color.

I may not be the most knowledgeable star guide, but I’m at the top of the heap with enthusiasm and passion. I love what I do, and I’ll let you know I love it when chatting out beneath the night sky.

It fills me up with sparkles, makes my heart smile and spirit soar. What’s out there? I can’t say for sure, but I’ll continue discovering the night sky’s wonders. It’s a thrill that doesn’t get old.

Beyond the Edge

Just released! Book 4 in the Backworlds series!

 

 

 

Some truths are better left unfound.

For two years Craze’s dear friend, Lepsi, has been missing. The murmurings of a haunted spaceship might be a message and may mean his old pal isn’t dead. The possibility spurs Craze and Captain Talos to travel to uncharted worlds, searching. Out there, in an unfamiliar region of the galaxy beyond the Backworlds, they stumble upon a terrible truth.

Meanwhile, Rainly remains on Pardeep Station as acting planetlord, dealing with the discovery of her lover’s dark and brutal past. Alone and questioning her judgment, her introspection unlocks more than heartache. Latent protocols in her cybernetics activate, forcing her to face a sinister secret of her own.

In the far future, humanity settles the stars, bioengineering its descendents to survive in a harsh universe. This is the fourth book in the science fiction series, The Backworlds. A space opera adventure.

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M. Pax-- Inspiring the words she writes, she spends her summers as a star guide at Pine Mountain Observatory in stunning Central Oregon where she lives with the Husband Unit and two demanding cats. She writes science fiction and fantasy mostly. You can find out more by visiting her at:

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What gets your geek going?